CLAREMONT >> The chairs of the ethnic studies departments for the Claremont Colleges are backing a Claremont McKenna College student movement, calling for the end of what they say is a culture of discrimination at that campus.

The three professors also raise the issue of the lack of diversity in student population and staff, contending there are “institutionalized inequalities” that have long plagued the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate institutions.

“The bravery of students who led these protests have made it clear to us that institutional racism and white privilege continue to be powerful forces in Claremont,” the letter states.

The letter is among recent correspondence being circulated stating either support or dissent on the issue.

Claremont McKenna’s dean of students resigned last week after students expressed concerns about the dean’s office being unsupportive toward students of “marginalized identities.” The student movement, which goes by CMCers of Color, said claims of racial bias are part of a systematic issue at the liberal arts college, and it has been working with the administration since April to get them addressed.

The latest letter to the Claremont Colleges administrators was sent on Monday and signed by Hung Cam Thai, chairman of Asian American Studies; Sheila Walker, chairwoman of Africana Studies; and Miguel R. Tinker Salas, chairman of Chicano/a-Latino/a Studies. The three professors work for all five of the Claremont Colleges.

On Tuesday night, Salas said the issue isn’t just with students.

“In terms of faculty, there is an absence of diversity,” he added.

Salas said the colleges are not a representation of the demographic changes that have occurred in Southern California and even the state.

“Diversity can’t be something you talk about but something you move to action, move to make changes,” he said. “There’s still entire departments that don’t have people of color — that’s the reality in 2015 and that’s unacceptable.”

According to Salas, the colleges have been discussing diversity for 23 years, since he’s been working at the colleges.

“We want to make clear that a few token calls for greater diversity do not and will not resolve the experience of racism, devaluation and marginalization. Institutional racism must be addressed systematically with a long-term actionable plan, and not a simple list of promises at the level of rhetoric,” the letter states.

But in recent days there has been backlash to the movement. A correspondence sent out by the CMC student body — 236 unnamed signers — on Saturday criticized the protests. The letter claimed the movement was cyberbullying the students involved in the photo with Halloween costumes, asking that the public take down the image, and scorned the measures students took to remove former Dean of Students Mary Spellman.

A letter published Sunday night by Rachel Doehr and Katharine Eger was meant to voice their support for Spellman, adding that she was a proponent of marginalized voices.

“Many of us — students, faculty and administrators — are guilty of standing silent while Dean Spellman fell alone,” the letter says.

The two students say they are focused on helping Spellman find a job and are asking classmates to share stories how she has had a direct or indirect impact to cmcletters@gmail.com. By Wednesday, Doehr said she had received 20 letters from students, alumni, faculty and administration.

“Students seem hesitant to voice their opinion,” she said. “Instead they are coming to us, one-on-one, sending us Facebook messages or emails,” she said.

Doehr said obscenities shouted at Spellman are not wholly representative of the student body. There are, she said, valid concerns of marginalized students but instead of trying to place the blame on one person, they should have focused their efforts to changing the institution.

“We’re trying to clear her name and show that she’s a wonderful and incredible person. We’re exposing things students didn’t know she did,” Doehr said.

She said she heard from faculty who told her that Spellman set up an emergency fund, with donations coming from staff and faculty, to help low-income students. Spellman also met one-on-one with students to help address physicological issues.

Longtime Claremont McKenna College government professor Charles Kesler wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, published Tuesday, stating that a majority of faculty have called for faculty diversity training and a re-evaluation of the curriculum. Kesler said he was among some faculty that voted no.

“This is what the protests are about: reordering campus in the name of the ‘marginalized’ and their sponsors in the faculty and administration, whose turn has come to enjoy their own reign of intolerance,” Kesler wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

Liset Márquez covers the cities of Pomona, Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. A beat reporter for the Bulletin since 2006, she previously wrote for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. She keeps a watchful eye on city councils and the Dodgers.